Fireworks
by T.N.Shiroi
Summary: When Gilbert finds out he's stuck viewing fireworks with the prissy, aristocratic Roderich Edelstein, he realizes the brunette isn't exactly the rude princess he made him out to be.


**Yo~ it's October but here's a summer fic for you guys about fireworks :)**

**Hope you guys enjoy. **

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><p>The only reason why Gilbert was at the annual summer firework display was because <em>someone<em> had promised him that Roderich Edelstein—Gilbert's nemesis for life— wasn't going to be there. So why on earth was the prissy brunette standing no more than two feet away from him looking like a lost lamb in the crowd?

Gilbert blinked, rubbed his eyes, and pinched his cheeks with more force than necessary to make sure he was just seeing a hallucination or a Roderich-doppelganger. Unfortunately, Roderich was still there when Gilbert finished subjecting himself to numerous is-this-a-dream checks. The albino considered turning around to find that that son-of-a—ahem, that _someone_, but the brunette had chosen to raise his gaze, causing their eyes to meet.

The two stood there for a moment like two fighters taking a minute to size each other up. Gilbert would have loved for this to be a fight, except Roderich was no fighter; he was a priss who wasn't good at anything except piano and standing there looking like a model from some magazine. The albino grudgingly admitted that Roderich did always have good fashion sense and impeccable hair, but only someone out of his mind would wear dress pants and a dress shirt to a _firework display_. The silence thickened as people began swarming around them to find a good spot, and Gilbert shifted his weight from one foot to another. How long would this silence continue? Apparently Gilbert didn't have to wait any longer because his highness beat him to it.

"What are you doing here?" Roderich asked as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He did that a lot, and Gilbert found it extremely irritating. It was like the brunette was trying to hide something or avoid his gaze. What pissed him off even more was that clear and demanding tone that sounded like it belonged to some stuck-up rich kid. Oh wait— it did belong to a stuck-up rich kid.

Gilbert rolled his eyes and snorted at what sounded like an accusation. "Haughty tone you got there, princess. Sure you ain't here to bask in my awesomeness as a substitute for a facial?"

Roderich huffed and pulled out his phone. "Elizaveta told me you weren't going to be here and… she's not coming," the brunette said almost balefully after he glanced at his phone. "I can't believe she did this to me, but…" he shot Gilbert a small smirk. "Good thing to know that your friends aren't going to show up anytime soon."

"How do you know?" Gilbert asked defensively, digging his hands deeper into his pockets. His eyes darted around his surroundings and his heart sunk in his chest. Francis and Antonio were both supposed to be here already so he wouldn't have to look like some lame-ass loner in a throng of people. Gilbert was glad when his awesomeness made him stick out of the crowd, but it wasn't that comfortable when his friends weren't there to buffer his awesomeness so people wouldn't be staring at him all the time.

"Why don't you check your phone?" Roderich replied airily, and Gilbert rolled his eyes. Of course Francis and Antonio were going to come, they'd never ever—"Shit," Gilbert swore as his eyes swept over the text message that contained some bullshit excuse for not showing up. He shoved his phone into his back pocket and glared at Roderich.

"Forget it, I'm going home. I'd rather die than watch fireworks with you." Gilbert muttered as he turned and walked away. He suddenly wasn't in the mood to pick verbal fights with Roderich anymore.

"Sounds like the 'awesome' Gilbert can't stomach a little friendly outing," Roderich said dryly. Gilbert whipped around so fast he thought his neck was going to get whiplash. Roderich looked at him, his violet irises giving Gilbert a calculating look before shifting his gaze. Gilbert sighed in frustration. Always, always, Roderich always avoided his gaze, which unnerved Gilbert to no end. The albino stalked off to a clear patch of grass, dropped his bag on the grass, and was shaking out the picnic blanket when he noticed a kid staring at him. Gilbert blinked. It was the second time he had seen someone with such big and bushy eyebrows.

"Kirkland?" He hazarded a guess. The kid nodded, his blue eyes darting around nervously as he put a foot down on the spot.

"This is my seat," The kid declared with a high-pitched tone that suggested something like fear. Gilbert raised an eyebrow. He commended the kid on his bravado, but this spot was his.

"Run along, eyebrows…or you wanna fight?" Gilbert snorted as he flapped out the picnic blanket and draped it over the spot. The kid stared at him for a few seconds before he ran off bawling to someone.

"That wasn't very nice," Roderich said reprovingly as Gilbert spread himself on the picnic blanket.

"It's either his or mine." Gilbert said as stared at the sky. The sun was now nothing but a tiny red line on the horizon, and probably around another half hour or so the fireworks would start. Roderich was here, and that was a fact that wouldn't, _shouldn't_, deter Gilbert from what he was after—a brilliant firework display. But Roderich always seemed to get on his mind. Roderich this, Roderich that, the more Gilbert thought about it the more he realized even though he hated Roderich, he spent most of the day ranting on how silly Roderich is.

After a few minutes or so Gilbert realized Roderich wasn't around anymore. Maybe he gave up and went home, or maybe he went off to find another spot. Either way Gilbert didn't really care...though he did think it was stupid to be watching fireworks alone. As he watched a young couple nestle against each other he cursed his friends for this twisted, cruel fate. Why didn't they show up? More importantly, why didn't they give him a moment's notice about not coming? Gilbert grabbed a patch of grass and threw it before him, grumbling as the grass fell limply to the ground.

"You shouldn't be pulling the grass out like a young child." Gilbert looked up and watched as Roderich seated himself beside him. So he hadn't gone home after all. Somehow Gilbert felt oddly relieved, but he was careful not to show it.

"My turf," Gilbert said gruffly as he turned his gaze back to the sky. Roderich held something out in front of him, something that smelled delicious despite being wrapped in cheap foil. It roused his hunger so he reached out to it, only to have it snatched back.

"My food," Roderich said simply. Gilbert gritted his teeth before he spat out a "Fine". Roderich wordlessly dropped the hotdog on Gilbert's stomach and the latter sat up, peeling the foil off his hotdog. Hmmm…it seemed like the brunette put every available topping there was. Ketchup, mustard, relish, onions…was that a jalapeno?

"Didn't think you'd eat take-out," Gilbert grumbled as he picked off the jalapeno and flicked it on the grass in front of him. Roderich gave him a disapproving stare.

"I don't live on exquisite foods alone. Now go pick that up and dispose it properly."

Gilbert snorted. "It'll decay and return to being dirt in no time, _mom_."

Roderich shook his head slightly before he walked over and picked the jalapeno up with a napkin, promptly throwing it away in the trash can.

"Somebody's an earth lover." The corner of Gilbert's lips tugged up to form a smirk, and Roderich just sat back to chew on his hot dog again. Though it wasn't Gilbert's intention, he found himself looking at the way Roderich's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. Crimson eyes moved to the brunette's face, and Gilbert had to admit Roderich was an attractive looking man; however, looks alone didn't amend for what he lacked in the social department.

"You are sitting beside me, therefore associated with me, therefore what you do affects me…and I do not want to be associated with someone who throws food around so mindlessly." Roderich said as he opened a can of soda.

"Tch," Gilbert muttered before he ate the rest of his hotdog in three bites. "If you like being so economical, why don't you throw this away for me?" He dangled the foil wrapper in front of Roderich. The brunette shook his head.

"Maybe this is an opportune moment for you to learn how to throw waste away properly. If you had learned in the first place I wouldn't have deemed you so primal and uncouth."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "You and your weird words…whatever, I'll show you the real way to 'throw waste away properly'." Having said that, Gilbert bunched up the foil wrapper and tossed it into the garbage can as if he were throwing a basketball into the hoop. The albino turned to gauge the brunette's reaction and was met with slightly widened eyes and parted lips. For some reason his crimson gaze lingered on those thin, parted lips, but he quickly lifted his gaze to Roderich's eyes.

"Well…" Roderich shifted in his seat. "At least you have good accuracy."

Gilbert snorted before lying flat on his back again. Looking at the dotted stars in the sky Gilbert realized he was not as hostile to Roderich as he was at the beginning of the unexpected encounter, and now he was beginning to think that Francis had not showed up on purpose, probably for the same reasons as Elizaveta. One thing he didn't understand was their motive. It wasn't like Gilbert was interested in Roderich in any sort of way and it seemed Roderich wasn't too fond of him either. If this was a twisted way to force them to become friends, Gilbert supposed it wasn't too bad of a situation…given that Roderich was about as conversational as a stone and when he talked the words come out more like backhanded insults.

"Hey Roderich," he asked after a couple of minutes. "Did Liz tell you why she couldn't come?"

"Did Francis tell you why he couldn't come?"

Gilbert sat up again and looked at Roderich. "You know what, why don't we declare truce?" He asked almost lazily as he swept his eyes over Roderich to see his reaction.

"A truce?" Roderich asked with mild interest in his tone. "We've never waged war against each other."

Gilbert snorted. "Yeah right, maybe you forgot we're each other's nemesis?"

Roderich hummed in thought. "Rather than being each other's nemesis, I think we were more like two people on the same side but in a disagreement."

"What 'same side' do you supposed we're on?" Gilbert asked, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"Well...we have a lot of common friends, and that automatically lumps us together, don't you think?"

Gilbert chuckled. "I hate your snobby way of talking."

"I hate the way you dine like a slob."

"I hate the way you look so clean all the time…are you a girl?"

"That is a stereotype against girls. And what's wrong with being nice and clean most of the time?" Roderich's brows knit together as he frowned.

Gilbert shook his head. "Relax, man. Let's go back to hating each other."

Roderich pursed his lips as if to say something, but he seemed to have changed his mind. "I hate the way you flirt around with women— those poor souls never know what hit them."

"I hate the way you act so haughty."

"I hate the way you like to scare people by bursting balloons beside their ears."

"I hate the way you seem to find fault in everything I do."

Roderich blinked. "I do?"

"Yeah you do," Gilbert said with an offhanded wave.

"I hate the way your eyes are red."

This time it was Gilbert's turn to blink. "Are you hating on my eye color? Is this why you're always frowning when you're looking at me? Wait, you don't even look me in the eye most of the time!"

Roderich had the decency to look apologetic. "Well, your eyes are red…like blood. And I have an aversion to blood."

Gilbert was dumbfounded. "Then why don't you think about something else?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno, you tell me." Gilbert leaned back in time to watch the first sparks of the firework display reach into the sky with a high-pitched cry before exploding into a burst of hot white and descending in shimmers. If he looked closely enough the small remnants of the firework actually looked like starlets.

"That was small but impressive," Roderich said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I can't wait for the bigger ones," Gilbert nodded his head in agreement. The two sat there and watched as the fireworks went up one by one, the smaller fireworks leading into the climax of big, bursting circles of colors that died quickly, leaving faint shimmers before completely turning into black dust.

The beauty of fireworks awed him. The process of making the display was long, yet each display could only suspend for thirty seconds or more of bursting glory before diminishing into nothing…and fading away. Maybe he was like that, maybe he was in the prime time of his life right now, but soon everything would shimmer and fade away. He looked at Roderich to see if he could guess what he was thinking. Roderich zipped up his jacket and Gibert realized the summer breeze was getting colder. He, too, zipped up his jacket and watched as another display shot into the sky.

"I wish Elizaveta was here," Roderich said after the firework shimmered away. "This is fantastic. It amazes me how quick the beauty is to fade though," he added almost ruefully. "It seems to be a painful reminder that nothing in life lasts long."

"Isn't someone a bit negative," Gilbert chuckled, though he himself was thinking the same thing not too long ago. His eyes looked out on the horizon, no longer focusing on the fireworks above. He suddenly felt so at peace despite the loud, popping noises the fireworks produced, and he thought it might be nice to watch the fireworks with a significant other…if he ever would have one.

Roderich didn't reply and Gilbert didn't feel the need for an answer. The two sat with their heads raised towards the sky as they watched the remainder of the show in silence. Gilbert glanced at Roderich and couldn't help the odd feeling that everything seemed to be in place.

The last firework died out in a shimmer, and Gilbert sighed. People began getting up and leaving, as there was nothing left to do anymore.

Gilbert glanced at Roderich, who let out a soft sigh before getting up and brushing imaginary crumbs off his clothes. "Did you drive?" Gilbert asked.

Roderich made a face. "Well, Elizaveta said she was going to meet me here and when the fireworks ended she would drive me home, but…" He trailed off and stared at the sky ruefully.

"I rode my bike here… maybe you'd like a ride back?" Gilbert offered before he realized what he was saying. Both Roderich and he were surprised, but the albino put on a face of nonchalance.

"I guess that won't hurt." Roderich answered after a pulse of silence. Gilbert watched as the brunette tided up his things with fluent efficiency before the two folded the picnic blanket. They followed the flow of people and Gilbert made sure to walk at the same pace at Roderich so the brunette wouldn't get lost. He had heard something about Roderich having no sense of direction…speaking of that, how did he get here in the first place? Gilbert shook his head. That wasn't important.

When they reached Gilbert's motorcycle the albino grabbed a spare helmet and tossed it at Roderich. The brunette looked at it almost awkwardly before putting it on his head and fumbling with the straps. Gilbert resisted a snort before he reached out and gently adjusted the straps. "There you go."

There seemed to be the faintest trace of a blush on Roderich's face, but it was too dark for Gilbert to see clearly. Gilbert climbed on the vehicle, wondering how it was possible for two people who clearly hated each other's guts to become so…_ normal_. It was like they never hated each other before. The sudden thought struck Gilbert and he couldn't help but feel nervous as he felt Roderich shift into place behind him.

"Grab my waist and try not to fall off." Gilbert said as he started the engine.

"I'll be holding onto you like you're my life," Roderich said seriously, and Gilbert felt the back of his ears warm up.

On the rest of the ride they were silent, one reason being that the wind was howling all around them as Gilbert sped on the highway, and another reason being there was nothing to say. When they arrived at campus Gilbert felt perturbed that the light to his room was on. He shared a room with Antonio, so that meant the Spaniard was probably in there, chuckling with Francis no doubt.

"Roderich? You can let go of me now," Gilbert said as he coaxed the brunette's arms from his waist. Roderich made a sound of a dying fish as Gilbert slowly unclenched his fingers.

"I thought we were going to crash and die…" Roderich rasped as he tried to flex his fingers. As expected, they had gone numb with fear.

"You underestimate me." Gilbert chuckled as he got off the bike. Roderich followed suit almost shakily and handed the helmet back to the albino, which made his body wrack with laughter.

Roderich smoothed down his hair with an indignant look. "What's so funny about mussed up hair? Yours is just as messy."

Gilbert shook his head. "The thing is, you care about your hair and I don't really give a damn."

Roderich sighed as if in defeat, but Gilbert didn't miss the small smile that curled around his lips. Gilbert turned around to make sure his bike was secure. When he was done the two walked into the dorm building and into the elevator. The pair stood in silence, but it wasn't awkward. It was somehow welcoming and comfortable. When the elevator stopped at Roderich's floor, Gilbert gave him a small wave. "Well, good night."

The brunette got out of the elevator before turning around. Gilbert blinked when the violet irises gazed into his for a proper eye contact. "Good night," Roderich said softly. "Thanks for the ride."

Gilbert nodded, and the elevator doors closed. The day had ended somewhat peacefully, leaving Gilbert with the knowledge that Roderich wasn't as bad as he seemed. He exited the elevator and walked over to his room, smirking when he heard Antonio's laughter and Francis' chuckling. It was payback time—those poor souls wouldn't even know what hit them.

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><p><strong>As always, thanks for reading to the end!<strong>


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